Method of demolding a green body and finishing same

Abstract: A green body (38) of a vessel-shaped piece of sanitary ware made by slip casting, such as a washbasin, is demolded by a robot having an arm (28) provided at its free end with a suction pad (30) which is brought into contact with the outer surface of the bottom of the green body (38) to hold it by suction. The green body is, then, rotated or otherwise moved for finishing by a stationary device (46,50), while it is held by the robot. The robot enables the automatic demolding and finishing of the green body.

Description: This invention relates to a method of demolding and finishing a green body of a vessel-shaped piece of sanitary ware, such as a washbasin. Slip casting is a method which is widely employed for molding a vessel-shaped piece of sanitary ware, such as a washbasin. A shortened molding cycle is achieved by casting a slip under pressure into a porous mold and drawing water out of the slip into the pores of the mold. There is known a process which employs a molding apparatus as shown in Figs. 8A to 8C to eliminate the labor and equipment for closing and opening each mold. This method employs a multiplicity of vertically disposed molds 100 which are horizontally movably juxtaposed, and a single pressure cylinder 102 for closing and pressurizing all of the molds 100 together, so that a slip may be cast into the cavity of each mold. The slip can be cast simultaneously into all of the molds 100. The work after casting, including the demolding of each green body 104 and its finishing, such as deburring and boring, is, however, done manually by a worker. After each mold 100 has been opened, the green body 104 is manually demolded, and placed on an appropriately positioned pallet 106. Then, the pallet 106 is delivered onto a rotary table 110 and the green body 104 is deburred and bored (108) by hand tools, while the table 110 is manually rotated. The green body 104 as molded is soft and liable to damage, and calls for the utmost care in its handling. Its finishing involves its complicated movement. Therefore, the demolding and finishing of the green body 104 has been difficult to accomplish mechanically or automatically and has had to be manually done. The manual demolding and finishing of the green body, however, take labor and time, and have been an obstacle to the realization of an automatic process for manufacturing a green body of sanitary ware. IT-A-1 210 759 discloses a method of withdrawing crude ceramic articles from forming presses to subsequent treatment stations in which the articles are held by suction on a trolley. GB-A-2 053 886 discloses a method of handling ceramic articles in which the articles are held by suction on an arm which moves the articles from a mold to a processing station. Under these circumstances, it is an aim of this invention to provide an improved method which enables the automatic demolding and finishing of a green body of sanitary ware. According to the present invention there is provided a method of demolding and finishing a green body of sanitary ware formed by slip casting, comprising: preparing a green body of sanitary ware in a casting machine , between two split sections of a mold; opening one split section of the mold to expose the bottom of the green body, including a portion to be formed with a hole; holding the bottom of the green body, except the portion, with a suction pad of a robot by suction; bringing the green body held by the robot arm to a finishing station including a boring device and a deburring device; operating the robot arm to move the green body relative to the boring device to make a hole in the portion and relative to the deburring device to remove a burr from the green body; and removing the green body from the robot arm to another station. The method of this invention employs a robot having a sucking action for demolding a green body. The robot preferably has an arm provided at its free end with a suction pad which is brought into contact with the outer surface of the bottom of the green body and holds it by suction. If the suction pad has a sufficiently large area of contact with the green body, it can hold the green body without doing any damage to it, and the robot, therefore, enables the automatic demolding of the green body. The demolded green body is rotated and otherwise moved for finishing by a stationary device, while it is held by the robot. The robot which holds the green body on the outer surface of its bottom enables the rotary and other motions of the green body in a complicated pattern as required by the work for its finishing, including the removal of any burr formed on the green body along the mating plane of the mold and the boring of a hole in the green body. The method which employs a pallet as hereinbefore described has always been faced with difficulty in finishing that portion of the green body which rests on the pallet. This problem can be overcome by the method of this invention, since the robot holds the green body on the outer surface of its bottom which is a portion thereof not calling for any finishing in particular, while the green body as a whole is in a raised or suspended position during its finishing. Thus, this invention enables the mechanized and automated demolding and finishing of a green body of sanitary ware, such as a washbasin, and thereby a greatly improved efficiency in the manufacture of any such product. An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figs. 1A to 1D are a series of views illustrating the demolding step of a method embodying this invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a green body and a suction pad employed in the method of the invention; Figs.3A to 3C are a set of views illustrating the finishing step of the method embodying this invention; Fig. 4 is a schematic top plan view of an apparatus which can be employed for carrying out the method of this invention; Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view of one of the molding machines which the apparatus of Fig. 4 includes, and the molds which are therein employed; Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the suction pad shown in Figure 2; Figs. 7A to 7C are a set of views showing the back, side and front, respectively, of the suction pad; and Figs. 8A to 8C are a set of views showing a known process for slip casting green bodies for washbasins. Description will now be made in detail of a method embodying this invention with reference to the drawings. Fig. 4 shows a schematic top plane view of an apparatus for molding, demolding and finishing green bodies for washbasins as a typical example of vessel-shaped sanitary ware. The apparatus includes a pair of slip casting machines 10A and 10B installed in parallel to each other, and each having a mold clamping cylinder 12 and a mold retaining plate 14 for applying pressure to a plurality of (or more specifically, two) molds 16. Each mold 16 has two split sections 16a and 16b defining therebetween a mold cavity 17 corresponding in shape to a washbasin, as shown in Figure 5. The split section 16a of one of the molds 16 and the adjacent split section 16b of the other mold 16 are formed as a single unit. The apparatus also includes a robot 18 installed between the casting machines 10A and 10B in an equally spaced relation therefrom. A finishing station 20 is provided between each casting machine 10A or 10B and the robot 18 for finishing each green body 38 (shown in Fig. 2) as by deburring it and boring a hole in it. The apparatus further includes a conveyor 22 for delivering each green body 38 to another station, a pair of slip tanks 24 and a pair of heaters 26. The robot 18 has an arm 28 carrying a suction pad 30 at its free end, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7B, etc. The suction pad 30 is a hollow box-like body formed from an epoxy resin, and containing a wooden reinforcing member 32. The suction pad 30 has a front or sucking face which is complementary in shape to the outer surface of the bottom 40 of each green body 38, and to which a sheet of an elastic foam 34 is bonded to enable the pad to adhere closely to the green body. The suction pad 30 is provided through its front face with a multiplicity of suction holes 36 through which its outside and its hollow interior are connected. The suction pad 30 has at one corner thereof a recess 44 which enables it to fit on a green body 38 without being obstructed by a drain port 42 projecting from its bottom. Reference is now made to Figs. 1A to 1D and 3A to 3C. The apparatus as hereinabove described is employed for molding, demolding and finishing green bodies 38 for washbasins. The two slip casting machines 10A and 10B are alternately used for molding green bodies 38. While one of the machines, e.g. 10A, is used for molding green bodies 38, the green bodies 38 molded in the other machine 10B are demolded and finished, whereby a multiplicity of green bodies 38 are continuously molded and finished. More specifically, the mold clamping cylinder 12 is retracted to retract the mold retaining plate 14 to thereby open one of the two molds 16 upon completion of one cycle of molding operation in the casting machine 10A (or 10B), as shown in Figs. 1A and 1B. The arm 28 of the robot 18 is moved to bring the suction pad 30 into contact with the outer surface of the bottom of a green body 38 left on the split section 16b of the mold 16, as shown in Figs. 2 and 1C. The suction pad 30 is evacuated to hold the green body 38 by suction. Then, the robot arm 28 is moved to demold, or separate the green body 38 from the split mold section 16b, as shown in Fig. 1D, and convey it to the finishing station 20 where the necessary work is done for finishing the green body 38, including boring and deburring. Fig. 3A shows by way of example a method of boring a hole through the drain port 42 of the green body 38. The green body 38 kept in a suspended position by the robot arm 28 is moved toward a boring device 46 and a boring tool 48 is driven to make a hole through the drain port 42. Fig. 3B shows by way of example a method of removing any burr formed on the green body 38 along the mating plane of the mold 16 (or along the top edge of the washbasin). This method employs a deburring device 50 including an endless deburring belt 54 having a portion dipped in water 52. The green body 38 carried on the robot arm 28 is gradually rotated and brought into contact with the belt 54 from one portion to be deburred to another, while the belt 54 is also rotated, whereby any and all burr is eventually removed from the green body 38. According to this invention, the green body 38 to be finished is held in a raised or suspended position by the robot arm 28, and rotated or otherwise moved in accordance with a predetermined pattern for finishing by a stationary device, while it has hitherto been usual to hold a green body 38 stationary and advance or otherwise move a finishing tool. This invention, thus, makes it possible to automate the finishing work which calls for the complicated relative motions of the finishing device and the green body 38. After the necessary finishing work has been done, the green body 38 is transferred from the robot arm 28 to a pallet 56, and delivered by the conveyor 22 to another station, as shown in Figure 3C. While each casting machine 10A or 10B has been described as including two molds 16, it is equally possible to provide each casting machine with only one, or more than two molds. While the green body 38 has been described as being delivered to another station by the conveyor 22, it is equally possible to employ a bogie, or like vehicle for that purpose. It is to be understood that the invention has been described and shown with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, and that variations or modifications may easily be made by anybody of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims: A method of demolding and finishing a green body of sanitary ware formed by slip casting, comprising: preparing a green body (38) of sanitary ware in a casting machine (10A,10B), between two split sections (16a,16b) of a mold (16); opening one split section of the mold to expose the bottom (40) of the green body, including a portion (42) to be formed with a hole; holding the bottom of the green body, except the portion (42) to be formed with a hole, with a suction pad (30) of a robot (18) by suction; bringing the green body held by the robot arm to a finishing station including a boring device (46) and a deburring device (50); operating the robot arm to move the green body relative to the boring device to make a hole in the portion (42) and relative to the deburring device to remove a burr from the green body; and removing the green body from the robot arm to another station. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the suction pad includes a hollow body, a front face of which is complementary in shape to the bottom of the green body, elastic foam bonded to the front face to enable the pad to adhere closely to the green body, and a multiplicity of suction holes through the front face. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the said casting is carried out by two casting machines between which the robot is installed, and which are alternately employed for casting so that while one of the casting machines is employed for casting a green body made in the other casting machine is demolded and finished using the robot arm. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the deburring device includes an endless belt (54) having a portion dipped in water (52), the green body carried on the robot arm being brought into contact with the belt to remove a burr from the green body.

Inventors: SENDA KAZUO, TAKEUCHI HIDEO, SENDA, KAZUO, TAKEUCHI, HIDEO, SENDA, KAZUO C/O INAX CORPORATION, TAKEUCHI, HIDEO C/O INAX CORPORATION
Applicants: INAX CORP, INAX CORPORATION
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B28B13
IPC codes: B28B1, B28B11, B65G47, B28B13, B25J15